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THE 
UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI 



Volume 15 Number 28 
EXTENSION SERIES 9 

EDITED BY C. H. WILLIAMS 

ABNORMAL AND DEFECTIVE 
CHILDREN 



BY 

W. H. PYLE 

Assist (I i}t Professor of Educational Psycliolof/y / 




Issued Three Times Monthly; Entered at the Post- 
office, Columbia, Missouri, as Second Class Matter 



UNIVERSITY OP MISSOURI 

coLUArF.iA, Missouru 

October, 1914 



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Abnormal and Defective Children. 



It is the earnest wish of the University of Missouri to be of aid 
in every way possible to the people of the state. In pursuance of this 
desire the Extension Division of the University has issued this bul- 
letin upon the care and training of abnormal and defective children. 

Scientific Study of Children. — For some time we have been used 
to the application of science to the solution of the farmer's problems. 
Through the College of Agriculture and other agencies, our state spends 
thousands of dollars annually in experimental investigations in trying 
to find better ways of meeting the problems of the farm, and in spread- 
ing the results of these investigations among those who can profit 
from the information. The farmer can get expert assistance and 
knowledge in dealing with his cholera hogs, the chinchbugs in his 
wheat or his infested orchard. He can get expert advice concerning 
soils and fertilizers and on all other subjects related to agriculture. 

But we are not yet used to the idea of applying scientific knowl- 
edge to the problem of rearing children, in spite of the fact that 
children are very much like fruit trees and pigs and chickens, in 
that they need constant care and oversight during the period of 
growth. Among children, we find good stock and poor stock. When 
a child gets sick, there is a cause for it. If a child's development 
is retarded, there is a cause for that too. A child's body and mind 
grow and develop and function according to definite laws, just as is 
the case with all other kinds of living things. If a child's vision 
or hearing is defective, this has an effect on the child's life. If a child 
is not properly fed or clothed, or any vital organ is out of order, the 
child suffers in consequence. A person's mind is intimately related 
to his body, and generally speaking, whatever affects the body, affects 
the mind. If the body is fast or slow in development, so usually is 
the mind. Heredity is a great factor in the human race just as it is 
with lower animals, and with plants. We do not expect to raise " 
apples on peach trees nor beans on melon vines. With domestic 
animals, we know that we get different results from different breeds. 
We must expect the same factor to work with our children. Some 
belong to good, strong, healthy stock and others to poor, weak and 
unstable stock. All our various mental and physical characteristics 
are, beyond doubt, transmitted by inheritance. Now, since all these 
things are true — since everything that happens in the development 
of a child is due to some cause — we must use every means known 
to man of guiding and directing child-development, so that each child 

(3) 



4 UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI BULLETIN 

may come to maturity with the best possible equipment for its life- 
work: having suffered no drawback from a cause that could have been 
removed. 

The School of Education in our State University should fill the 
same place in the matter of rearing and educating children that the 
the state College of Agriculture does in the work of farming. Ex- 
perience proves that the state is justified in maintaining experiment 
stations and schools of agriculture. It will also be justified in spend- 
ing even greater sums of money in finding out what is best to do 
for our children, and in spreading this knowledge among the teachers 
and parents of the state. 

The purpose of this bulletin is to set forth the possibilities in 
one particular field — the proper education and treatment of abnormal 
and defective children. 

Subnormal or Feeble-minded Children. — We are all different. Just 
as no two people are exactly alike physically, so no two people are 
just alike mentally. Some of us have traits that others lack. Some 
of us have traits developed to a higher degree than do others. 
Some of us have good memories, others have very poor memories. 
Some of us are capable of a high power of attention or concentra- 
tion; others are scatterbrained and cannot apply themselves long at 
a time. Now, if from infancy one lacks some trait or traits of social 
importance, he is considered feeble-minded. Feeble-mindedness usually 
involves all the higher mental powers, but it is not always so, for it 
sometimes happens that a person has some trait unusually developed, 
as memory, for example, while in all others respects his mind is 
feeble. The feeble-minded person is usually incapable of concentrated 
attention or of logical reasoning and is a slow learner. Most specialists 
in this field look upon feeble-mindedness as a matter of arrested 
development. The child stops in its development at an early stage 
of growth. An adult person, for example, might have a mind much 
like that of a six-year-old child. This retarded development may be 
caused by some accident or disease, but in about two-thirds of the 
cases it is due to heredity. In the latter case, the child belongs to 
weak or poor stock mentally, and inherits the mental defect just as 
it inherits its hair-color or stature. 

Careful studies indicate that in this country there are about four 
feeble-minded children in a hundred. One child in two hundred is a 
low grade imbecile or idiot. If this estimate of the number of feeble- 
minded holds good in Missouri, we have in the state 38,260 feeble- 
minded children between the ages of six and twenty-one. If we exclude 
the lowest grades, there are left 33,477, that are likely to be sent to the 
public schools. In the feeble-minded institute at Lincoln, Illinois, it 
was found that a large per cent of the inmates had been in the public 



ABNORMAL AND DEFECTIVE CHILDREN D 

schools. Doubtless nearly all of the higher grade imbeciles are sent 
to the schools and many of the lower grade imbeciles. Therefore the 
problem of dealing with feeble-mindedness is no small matter for our 
public schools. Taking the estimates above and allowing fifteen pupils 
to a class, there are in the state enough feeble-minded children for 
2231 teachers. 

Importance of Early Diagnosis and Proper Education. — Although 
only four per cent of the population are feeble-minded, 40 per cent 
of the criminals, we are told by the criminologist, are recruited from 
this class. The writer made a psychological study of the girls in the 
state Industrial Home at Chillicothe and found that about two-thirds 
of the girls were feeble-minded. It is therefore important that the 
feeble-minded child be discovered as soon as possible in order that 
the proper treatment and education may be provided. The child of 
low mentality cannot learn the ordinary school studies. Such a child 
gets along poorly in school and consequently soon comes to dislike 
school. Truancy is usually the result. Truancy, in these cases, usually 
leads to crime. Therefore, as soon as it can be discovered that a 
child has a serious mental defect, it should bfc taken out of the ordinary 
school and be given the kind of education suited to it. This should 
be done for the good of the child itself as well as for the good of the 
rest of the pupils. There will be found, on the average, one or two 
feeble-minded children to a room. These children cannot do the 
ordinary work of the school and often give the teacher as much trouble 
as all the other children together. This is not right. The public 
school teacher should give her time to the normal children. On the 
other hand, the defective and subnormal child has its rights. When 
the state undertakes universal education, compelling attendance at 
school, it assumes the obligation of making it possible for each child 
to learn, and of giving to each child the kind and amount of training 
that each is capable of receiving. We must get hold of the unfortunate 
child early in order that we may not waste its life in fruitless endeavor 
and before the child has started on a life of crime. 

The Diagnosis of Menta! Defects. — The accurate diagnosis of 
mental defects and disease is a matter for the expert just as is the 
case with physical defects and disease. Of course continued failure to 
do the work of the school is an indication of feeble-mindedness, if no 
other cause for such failure can be discovered. There is usually no 
trouble in discovering the lower grades of imbecility. But the higher 
grades, particularly the highest grade known as morons, are difficult 
to determine and an accurate diagnosis demands the service of an 
expert. The time will doubtless come when every community will have 
the services of an expert — the expert on child life, he may be called — 
a man trained in medicine, psychology and education, particularly in 



6 UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI BULLETIN 

the needs of growing children. Under his direction, the children will 
be examined and educated according to their needs. At the present 
time only the largest cities can command the services of such men, 
and in the smaller communities, we must get along for the present 
the best we can. Our superintendents and principals can qualify 
themselves to diagnose feeble-mindedness for practical purposes with 
fair success. The main criterion must be inability to do the ordinary 
work of the school, slowness in understanding and in executing com- 
mands, backwardness in meeting the needs and demands of ordinary 
life. There are now available mental tests that can be applied to all 
the children of the school. Norms of performance have been worked 
out for all ages and for both sexes. After the tests are given the 
results for each child can be compared with the norm for his or her 
age. It will be evident at once whether the child is above or below the 
average. If a child is several years below the norms for his age in 
all or most of the tests, he is probably of inferior mentality. But after 
the group tests have been given to all the pupils, those that show the 
greatest retardation of development, particularly if the school work 
corroborates the findings of the mental tests, should be given special, 
individual examination. For this purpose, the Binet-Simon tests can 
be used. These tests enable one to determine the mental age of a 
child, and have proved of great service to those who have had to deal 
with subnormal children. The tests are very simple. Though an 
expert psychologist is required to interpret the results properly, a 
wise superintendent with a knowledge of psychology can by practice 
acquire enough skill with the tests to make them of much service to 
him when considered in connection with other criteria. At the end 
of this bulletin will be found a list of books that will assist in mental 
diagnosis. 

Sensory and Other Defects. — Often a child is retarded in school 
work not because it is feeble-minded, but because it cannnot see well 
or cannot hear well. Sometimes defective teeth, adenoids and other 
diseases retard development and prevent school progress. Therefore 
every school should have medical inspection, and mental and physical 
examinations annually. The sight and hearing of every child should 
be examined at least once a year. Every child found to be suffering 
from poor vision or defective hearing should be sent to a physician 
for careful examination. With just a little bit of trouble any teacher 
can qualify herself to test sight and hearing and determine whether 
a child's school work is being hindered by low acuity in either. When 
such is the case, the child should be sent to a specialist if possible. 
No one but a competent and honest oculist should prescribe glasses for 
a child. Poor vision is a very serious bar to school progress. Probably 
two-fifths of all school children could have their vision much improved 



ABNORMAL AND DEFECTIVE CHILDREN / 

by glasses. There are not more than half as many cases of serious 
ear defects, but defective hearing is a most serious hindrance to a 
child and should be treated as soon as discovered. There is con- 
siderable prejudice against the wearing of glasses. Teachers should 
overcome this by explaining to parents the nature of visual defects and 
the principle of their correction by glasses. It is a teacher's duty to 
ascertain the visual and auditory acuity of every child in her charge, 
and not only to make proper recommendations w^here defects are found, 
but to advise and instruct the parents concerning the importance of 
attending to such matters. Causes of retardation may also be looked 
for in adenoid growths and defective teeth, as mentioned above; also 
in poor nourishment, insufficient exercise, insufficient sleep and some- 
times in defective speech. There are various forms of word-blindness 
as well as color-blindness that are sometimes found. 

There is no use to pay out enormous sums of money to educate 
children and then waste a considerable portion of it trying to teach 
children who cannot hear, or cannot see or who cannot learn because 
of some cause that could be removed. 

The Education of the Feeble-minded.— The feeble-minded child, 
lacking the higher mental powers or having them in but feeble degree, 
can make little progress in the ordinary school studies that have in 
them so much that is abstract and symbolic. Reading and writing 
can be learned only by the highest types of mental defectives, and only 
poorly by them. The proper education for the feeble-minded child is 
motor and manual. They should have a great deal of play and should 
work much with their hands. Manual and industrial work is infinite 
in variety and complexity and can therefore be adapted to all grades 
and degrees of development. 

In cities with a school population of five hundred to a thousand 
and upward there will be found a sufficient number of subnormal 
children for one teacher or more. Fifteen subnormal children make 
a class large enough for one teacher. Children three years or more 
retarded in their mental development should be taken out of the 
ordinary school and put into a special class. This should be called 
the "ungraded class." In charge of this class should be put the best 
teacher available — one successful with little children, particularly in 
dealing with individual children. Each child in this ungraded class 
will constitute a problem for the teacher. She is, by proper treat- 
ment and care, to lead each to the highest point of development pos- 
sible. Some children whose development is retarded from temporary 
causes, under the good treatment received in this special class may 
be returned later to the proper grade in the regular school. Others, 
as the years go by will be found to be of such low mentality that 
they must be sent to some institution for the feeble-minded,, where 



8 UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI BULLETIN 

they must spend their whole life, not being allowed to marry and 
reproduce their kind. This will usually be the case with the type 
known as moral imbecile. 

The curriculum for the special class should consist of plays and 
games of great variety, well planned and graded, and every kind of 
hand work and construction. A really feeble-minded child is one for 
his whole life, and the sooner we recognize this fact and give up the 
hope of making a genius out of him, the better it will be for him. We 
must try to fit these children to live out their lives in very humble 
capacities. The special class will be the place where the future possi- 
bilities for each child will be determined, some to live a free, inde- 
pendent life in society, others to live out their lives in segregated 
communities. It is doubtful v/hether any of those whose defect is 
clearly from inheritance, should be allowed to marry. 

The teacher of special classes must, in large measure, work out 
her own curriculum and methods. Experience will give her wisdom 
and skill. 

In smaller towns and in rural communities where there is not 
enough subnormal children to justify the employment of a special 
teacher for them, it is still advisable to make an accurate study to 
determine who is feeble-minded. Although they cannot have a special 
class, they should be treated differently from the other children, and 
given the right kind of work as far as the teacher is able to provide 
it for them. They should be allowed more freedom and given more 
time for play, and the teacher need not worry about their progress 
in the ordinary school studies or their promotion. 

The work and play here outlined for this type of children will 
make them happy and fit them to live such lives as nature has made 
possible. 

A Clinical Room for Diagnosis. — Connected with the superintend- 
ent's office there should be a room fitted up with apparatus for the 
mental and physical examination of the pupils. For the present, the 
examinations can be carried out by the superintendent and the special 
teachers. For about $150 such a room can be fairly well equipped. 
And the good that would come from only the careful visual and audi- 
tory tests would abundantly justify the expenditure, to say nothing of 
the good from the mental examinations. The apparatus and other 
equipment should consist of charts and frames for testing vision, a 
Pilling-McCallie audiometer for testing hearing, apparatus for testing 
muscular speed and strength and muscular steadiness, for measuring 
height and weight and for determining the lung capacity, for testing 
for color-blindness, for determining the ability of distinguishing dif- 
ferences in pitch. Besides these, there should be various pieces of 
apparatus, and blanks and printed forms for mental examination. 



ABNORMAL AND DEFECTIVE CHILDREN V 

The University Will Help. — For three years the university has 
offered a course on the Abnormal Child for the purpose of fitting 
teachers for the work of detecting feeble-mindedness and for teach- 
ing such children. This course will be continued and extended. As 
occasion demands, the university will plan special courses in medi- 
cine and psychology that will aim at fitting teachers for this special 
kind of work. In addition to this work of preparing teachers, the 
university through the Extension Division will undertake to help any 
school in the work of diagnosis and in organizing the work of this 
special class. When it is desired the department of educational 
psychology will, if possible, send a representative to give personal 
assistance. In such a case, no charge will be made except the actual 
expenses of the trip. Any help that can be given by correspondence 
will always be promptly and freely given. Requests for personal 
assistance should be sent to the Secretary of the Extension Division; 
other correspondence concerning abnormal children may be addressed 
to the writer of this bulletin. 

Supernormal Children. — While the main purpose of this bulletin 
is to set forth the educational needs of the subnormal and defective, 
a word must be said in the interest of the supernormal child. The 
argument for the segregation and separate education of the subnormal 
child is partly that of economy. The state will save money by giving 
the defective child the kind of education that he needs. The child 
will thereby be fitted for the only kind of life that it is possible for 
him to live, and in many cases, saved from a life of crime. It will 
be much cheaper for the state to spend money for the proper educa- 
tion of the defectives than to spend it maintaining courts, jails and 
penitentiaries. No one is interested in the subnormals because he 
thinks geniuses can be made of them. Our interest in the super- 
normal child, however, is for an entirely different reason. While there 
are about four per cent of subnormal children, there is about the 
same number of children distinctly supernormal or superior. They 
are capable of a great deal more intellectual work and of a higher 
order than their fellows of the same age. Now it is of the greatest 
importance to society that these children of superior ability advance 
as fast and as far as their best interests demand. The child of 
superior mind can usually make his progress through the grades much 
faster than the normal child. He should either be allowed to do this 
or else given much more work and more difficult work than is given 
to the others of the same age. The important thing is that each 
child be doing just the work that his development at the time demands 
and be working with others of the same mental age. It is to the 
interest both of society and the individual that the child of superior 
mind be given the most favorable opportunity for development, for 
on these few superior minds the progress of civilization depends. 



10 UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI BULLETIN 

Some children are "all around superior," while others are gifted 
in some special field, as music, painting, invention, etc. When the 
latter is clearly the case, the child should be given the ordinary 
instruction of the public schools and also allowed to have outside of 
school, the special training that his talent demands. Briefly, we plead 
for the conservation of human energy, doing for every child that which 
is best for it and doing it at the proper time. 

LIST OF BOOKS 

In dealing with the abnormal child, much help can be had from 
books. The following should be available to those who undertake to 
make special provision for abnormal children. They may be obtained 
from the publishers or from the University Co-operative Store, 
Columbia. 

W, S. CORNELL — Health and Medical Inspection of School Children, F. A. Davis Com- 
pany, Philadelphia, $3.00. 

H. H. GODDAKD — The Binet-Simon Tests, published by the Training School, Vineland, 
N. J., fifteen cents. This pamphlet gives the tests as used by Goddard. 

A. HOLMES — The Conservation of the Child, J. E. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia, 
$1.25. 

E. B, HUEY — Backward and Feeble-minded Children, Warvv'ick and Yorls, Inc., Balti- 
more, $1.40. 

G. L, NOYES — Relation of Sight and Hearing to Early School Life, University of 
Missouri Bulletin, Medical Series, No. 5. This pamphlet is free and should 
be in the hands of every teacher in the state. 

W. H, PYLE — The Examination of School Children, The Macmillau Co., Nevy York and 
Chicago, fifty cents. This manual gives directions for mental and physical 
tests, with norms for the various school ages and both sexes. 

C. H. TOWN — ^Binet's Method of Measuring the Development of the Intelligence of 
Young Children, The Courier Co., Lincoln, Illinois, $1.00. 

J. H. VAN SICKLE — Provision for Exceptional Children in Public Schools, Bulletin, 
1911, No. 14, United States Bureau of Education, free. 

J. E. "W. WALLIN — The Mental Health of the School Child, Yale University Press, 
New Haven, $2.00. 

G. M. "WHIPPLE — Manual of Mental and Physical Tests, Warwick and York, Inc., 
two volumes, $3.75. This large work is a comprehensive treatment of the 
subject of tests. 

L. WITHER — The Special Class for Backward Children, The Psychological Clinic Press, 
Philadelphia, $1.50. 
Two magazines, devoted to the interests of the abnormal child, will be helpful: 

The Psychological Clinic, published by the Psychological Clinic Press, Philadelphia, 

$1.50; and the Training School, published at Vineland, N. J., $1.00. 



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